
ec 




L FT NEflDE 
DoNot Serve 




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SERMON. 



, FT MEfiDE 
iDoNoi Serve 



Luke 2, 49 — Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business. 

This is the answer of Jesus to his parents, when they found him at the age of 
twelve years discussing with the Jewish Doctors the principles of Hebrew law, and 
showing, even then, a wisdom superior to all the learning of their schools. His 
parents gently reproved him, and referred to the au.xiety which his absence had 
caused them. 

The te.Yt is his reply. He intended to say that He had a work on hand which 
required that every effort of life should be centered u[>on*th.it alone : that his 
Heavenly Father's business must take precedence of all else, even of the duties 
which He owed to his earthly parents. 

Hee-xpressed the same sentiment afterward, when he said to his Disciples : " I 
have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am 1 straitened till it be 
accomplished/' 

Virtually, these passages are a statement of the following important fact : 

Nothing truly great has been, or can be, accomplished in the absence of one 
central idea, one controlling purpose, to which all else must bend, and to which, 
if need be, all else must be sacrificed. 

I will add, as involved in this statement, that the great forces of the soul can be 
brought into action only by what is true, and pure, and noble, something truly- 
worthy of a creature made in the image of God. The noblest faculties, even, of 
the intellect will not work in view of what tends to corrupt or degrade ourselves, 
or injure in any manner our fellow-men. 

The human mind is a heavenly machine, devised for right noble purposes, and 
it does not perform well when doing a devil's work. Of course, these principles 
are applicable to nations as well as to individuals. 

I will add, also, this proposition: The noblest faculties of man are never 
brought into full exercise except under the power of the religious sentiment, when 
the soul burns with loyalty to Christ, and enthusiasm for his cause, and thns only 
can any nation reach the full measure of its possible greatness. 

Even when the religious sentiment is wrongly directed, when it becomes super- 
stition or fanaticism, even then, it generates a force mightier far than j.ll else, 
except a true Christian enthusiasm. I will try to illustrate these propositions : 

First. By reference to the lives of men illustrious in history, some aiming at 
dtstinction, power and fame, aud others working under the influence of religious 
enthusiasm. 

Second. By showing that each form of civilization has its own leading/ idea, and 
each great Power of earth has become mighty in pursuit of some great purpose 
which could arouse and direct the energies of its people. 

Third By the fact that each great movement of the Church has originated in, 
and been guided by, some grand central thought. 

Fourth. I will inquire what has been the central thought of our civilization 
heretofore, and whether the nation is working now under the inspiration of any 
sufficiently great and noble idea? 

Alexander of Greece is an example of one acting under the power of what, in 
J,he light of this world only, must be called a great idea. His Eastern march was 
not merely a raid on a grand scale, to gratify a mad desire for slaughter or 
conquest. His mind was filled with a nobler thought. He had studied the 
grandeur of those old Eastern enapires, Babylon, Assyria, Egypt and Persia. He 
saw how their greatness had been derived from the wealth of India, and how, on 
this East Indian commerce, they had built their splendid cities. 



r< 



HousK OF Representatives, 

Washington, Feb. 25, 1867. 
Dr. C. B. Boyntox, 

Chaplain to the Uouse of Representatives : 
Reverend and Dear Sib — The uadersigned members of Cont,'ress, hiivinK had 
the pleasure of hearing your excellent sermon delivered in the Hall of the House 
on yesterday, and Ijelievino- that its dissemination will advance the great political 
ideas espoused and enforced by the friends of freedom in all lands, together with 
the cause of Evangelical religion, resulting in a redeemed and desenthralled 
humanity, respectfully and earnestly ask that a copy thereof be furnished for 
publication at your earliest convenience. 

As co-workers with you, and good men everywhere, in the central idea of 

FREEDOM FOR ALL and PROTECTION TO ALL, 

We are your sincert^ friends, 

H. S. BDNDY, 

C. D.HUBBARD, 
J. W. McCLURG, 

D. MORRIS, 

SAMURL L WARNER. 
S. SHELLABARGER. 
P. SAVVyp:R, 
AMASA COBB, 

W. C. WASHBURN. 
G. N. MILLER. 



Washington, Februarp 27, J 867. 
Hon. H. S. Bundy, and others : 

Gentlemen — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your kind and 
encouraging note of the 25th, asking for a copy of my sermon preached in the Hall 
of the House on the 24th of this month. Ne.xt to the approbation of my Lord and 
Master, I ])rize the good opinion and kind wishes of the noble and true hearted 
ones with whom 1 have been permitted to have some humble share during the 
sessions of the Thirty-Ninth Congress. 

The manuscript will be placed at your disposal. 

Very respectfully and truly your ob't serv't, 

CHARLES B. BOYNTON. 



His great idea was to restore the splendor of the East by one vast empire under 
his control, with Alexandria for its western commercial metropolis. This great 
purpose sustained him in his career of conquest, his soul expanding to the lofty 
stature of the grand idea. • 

Had he succeeded, he would ha^e changed the aspect of the world. But the 
design of the Macedonian had in it no religious element, and did not move the 
soul's noblest powers ; did not lift him above the control of the lowest sensuality, 
and great as his idea in one aspect was, it could not save him from degrading 
himself, or from perishing like a brute at Babylon. 

A similar remark may be made in regard to the first Bonaparte. It was not the 
mere excitement of strife, a passion fo-* war, a thirst for blood, that tempted him 
to cover Europe with corpses, the wreck of battle, and the fragments of thrones. 
His mind wrought under the intense excitement of what the world calls a gieat 
idea. He was dazzled by the glory of the Empire of Charlemagne, when his France 
Wrt^the undisputed mistress of Europe, and his purpose was to strike down every 
European Power, and set up instead the one Imperial throne of France. His idea 
was of the earth, earthy, there was no purpose to elevate humanit}', and no 
recognition of Chiist, and it perished, as it should have done, with its author. 
Perished, 1 mean, in that particular form, for, as we shall see, it still lives under 
another aspect. 

These examples will easily suggest many others, showing what mighty forces 
great ideas are, how they convulse society like earthquakes, and change th'e destiny 
of nations. Even when injurious and wicked, they have this terrible power. 

Let us turn to some nobler examples. We- will spend a moment on the great 
Hebrew leader, Moses. 

By his adoption iuto the family of Pharaoh, he became the heir apparent to the 
Egyptian throne. Tradition asserts that he was commander-in-chief of the 
Egyptian armies — the foremost among the princes of the Kingdom. He had njastered 
all the learning of Egypt, and that embraced then the science and literature of the 
world. Next to the King, he was the most distinguished man of the realm, but he 
was still ip heart a Hebrew, and saw with grief and indignation the wrongs*of his 
people. 

The subject lay upon his heart, making him sad amid all his greatness, and his 
soul wrought with it till emotions and desires shaped themselves to the form of a 
purpose, which, at length, by a single event, became the fixed and definite object 
•of his life. 

While meditating one day upon the oppressions of his countrymen, he saw a 
cruel outrage committed upon one of his people, and while his heart was hot, be 
slew the Egyptian, and thus avenged his brother. By this act, typical of the future 
deliverance, he was forced into exile ; but from that hour the purpose to deliver 
his people became the controlling one of his life. 

Doubtless, he resolved it often, while attending the flocks amid the valleys over 
which towered the cloud wrapt peaks of Horab and Sinai. For forty years no way 
opened ; though, unknown to him, God was training him on the very scene of his 
future glory. He little thought that, during all this period, he was dwelling on 
the very spot which would become the chief theatre for accomplishing the great 
idea of his earlier years. 

It is probable that he often dismissed it from his thoughts, and felt that all his 
operations were vaiu, and that he would die only the simple keeper of his father's 
flocks. 

But when called at length by God to execute the purpose which he had formed 
forty years before, from that moment he moved under the double power of a lofty 
idea, and of intense religious enthusiasm. He confronted, rebuked, and at length 
defied the proudest monarch of the world, on his own throne, and in the presence 
of his guards and nobles. 

His great thought, and his faith in Jehovah, were mightier than the strength of 
Egypt. Under the pressure of his great purpose, he led his people boldly into the 
awful gorge of the parted sea, and trusted nearly three millions of people, with 
their flocks and herds, to a wilderness where neither food nor water could he 
procured, except by miracle, and yet he faltered not, filled with his great idea. 
And so pressed in spirit was he to see his work accomplished, that when his peopl* 



had siaued, and God seemed about to destroy them, he even remonstrated with 
Jehovah, and declared that he would rather die there and then, than fail in his 
design. 

How God honored this loftiness of soul, this steady devotion to a great conception ! 
From the time wften he left the Court of Pharaoh and fled to the desert, to the time 
of his death, he was a noble example of the resistless power of a great idea, if the 
might of the human mind, when inspired by a lofty thought, and held steady to 
the one heroic purpose. 

Though confronted by the power of Egypt, though an ocean rolled across his 
path, and the nowling wilderness was beyond ; though treachery and sedition 
plotted within, and foes assailed from without ; though that sister, who had 
watched him with throbbing heart when floating in his rush cradle on the waters 
of the Nile, joined herself to his enemies, and even his brother fell into idolatry, 
still, upheld by God and the power of his own heroic purpose, he stood unshaken 
amid all, and when denied that last achievement to which all former effort had 
been directed, when forbidden to Cross the Jordan with his people, as the Irtst act 
of his life, he scaled the rocky peaks that overlook Judea, and on the bare pinnacle 
sat him dow.n to die. with his last look fixed on the land of his hopes, the last 
throb of his heart atill true to the idea which he formed full eighty years 
before, when he slew an oppressor of his people and buried him in the sands of 
Egypt. 

Deborah, with the heart of a hero in a woman's breast, presents another 
beautiful example of the power of a noble purpose. She saw that the liberty and 
the manhood of her countrymen both were gone, trodden down together under the 
heel of the Philistine. So abject were they that they were forbidden to bear arms, 
and not a smith was allowed in Israel, lest he should forge some weapon for 
deliverance. 

Her soul was roused under the inspiration of God, and she sent a prophet 
sumpions through the land, and though Reuben had great searchings of heart, 
which ended in his remaining neutral at home, and ijan loved his ships better 
than his country, and Asher would not risk his fine farms on the creeks, her stir- 
ring message rallied the ten thousand to Tabor, and literally, on the wings of the 
storm, they rushed down, and swept the hosts of Sisera away, and the might of 
human enthusiasm was greater than the tornado and deluge of the mountains. 

David, also, was nursed into greatness by the power of noble thoughts. From 
the time when he was anointed by Samuel, his eye was fixed steadily on the star 
of his destiny. The crown of Israel was the earthly object which was set before 
him by God himself, and from that moment we behold him praying, fighting, and 
singing his wa}' from the sbeepfold to the throne. And when he had won the 
throne, and his mind turned to the noble conception of a Temple worthy of God 
and the nation, the Lord told him that, although he could not build it, still it was 
well for him to cherish in his soul the right royal thought. 

Hildebrand launched into Europe a thought of transforming power. It was, as 
all know, to 'subject all earthly power to the higher authority of the Church of 
Christ, to teach the world that Jesus Christ is King of Kings. In itself it was a 
great and true idea, and will yet be fully realized under the reign of the Lord. 

Gregory made a false application of a true principle, but still the mighty power 
of the idea is proved by the fact that it subjugated the greatest nations of Europe, 
and to-day that conception of Hildebrand is the chief among all the external 
forces which threaten the existence of our own Republic. I think this can be 
briefly, yet clearly, shown. The thought of Hildebrand was to bring all the 
world into subjection to the Church of Rome, and make the thrones of the nations 
tributary to the Head of the Romish Church, and force the Imperial Head of civil 
power to receive his authority from the hands of the Pope. 

The first Bonaparte, as I have said, thought onlj-of making himself the imperial 
head of Pvurope, rejecting the Pope, and so, when crowned with the iron crown 
of Charlemagne, he would not receive it from the Pope, but put it on his head 
with his own hands, to show bis independence of the Church. Rejectiug the 
religious element, he failed. 

Louis Napoleon, aided by the Jesuits, has united these two conceptions of the 
spiritual supremacy of the Church, and the civil Empire of Charlemagne, intending 
to blend them both in France, and make her the double head of Europe, the 



Church and the Empire being thus united in their Lordship over the world. This 
is the key to the Crimean war. The idea was to cripple Russia aud the Greek 
Church, and restore the Eastern Empire to Rome. This was the meaning of his 
attack on Ausliia, to give France the supremacy in Europe. This is the meaning 
of the invasion of .Mexico, and his sympathy with the rebels, the destruction of the 
Republic and our Protestant faith. Nor is this idea by any means abandoned. The 
contest for the possession of this continent is yet to come Those who suppose 
that henceforth we are to live in peace with Western Europe, will, ere long, 
perhaps, be undeceived. Rome has not given up the hope of controlling this 
Western world, and England desires, as earnestly as ever, to check her Republican 
rival. She is hastening to shape a consolidated monarchy to limit us on the North, 
and Rome is plotting still for the "Southwestern Empire," which shall stop our 
southward imarch, and restore the prestige of the Latin race and Latin church. 

The strength and enduring life of this idea of Hildebrand are shown by its 
becoming, after centuries have passed, one of the great forces that move our modern 
world. It was true in its main conception, but false and injurious in its applica- 
tion to the Church of Rome; yet, nevertheless, in the power of this old thought 
that church is preparing both here and in Europe, for one last, great struggle for 
the control of the world 

Simply as a religious sect, as one among the churches of the world, the Romish 
Church is welcome to make here her experiment. But if she assumes the form of 
a vast political enL'ine, wielded by the thrones, the aristocracies, and the hierarchies 
of Europe, sbe must be regarded as an antagonism to the Republic. 

I must pass by most of the examples of great men who have been made such by 
the power of some noble purpose, but will ask your attention a moment to Paul. 
He was great even in his wickedness, tie persecuted on a grand scale, and worked 
with a cruel enthusiasm that made every Christian in Judea tremble. It was the 
force of the thirsty tiger, the enthusiasm of an infuriate partisan. But when 
stricken down by the light which flashed through body and soul he was prepared 
for the nobler Christian idea, the salvation, instead of the destruction, of men. 
And when he had surveyed this new field, the vision filled his soul. "It;ount 
all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ«Jesus my Lord. 
Forgetting the things that are behind and reaching forward to the things "that are 
before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ." 
But Jesus Christ, even as man, is the noblest example of all. His greatness as a 
man was caused by the devotion of his whole soul to one ennobling purpose. It 
was a heaven-born conception, and it exalted him above the earth. He trod under 
foot its dominions and its honors. He had a loftier aim. Whfn the Satanic 
tempter unrolled before Him the glories of all earthly kingdoms, the eye of Jesus 
was fixed on a nobler vision — that of the delivered earth, made more glorious and 
beautiful under His own peaceful sceptre. While the archangel exhibited an 
earthlv thrcne, He beheld the loftier one which awaited Him in heaven. He 
describes the concentration of the energies of His soul upon one idea when He says : 
"I have a baptism to be baptised with, and how am I straitened till it be 
accomplished?" Rank, on earth, power, fame, wealth, luxury, ease, had no charm 
for Him. From the first hour of His public ministry He pressed right on to 
Gethsemane, the cross, the tomb, the heavenly throne. 

Under the secou^ head, I remark that every form of civilization assumes a 
national type, and consists essentially in the development of a central national 
idea, and great powers have arisen in the world when the main thought of a nation 
has been connected with a well-considered and well-defined national policy. 

The exhumed palaces of Ninevah — the temples and palaces, the pyramids and 
monuments which form the gigantic mould'ering skeleton of Egypt — the ruins of 
more beautiful Greece— each show traces of a civilization which is the outgrowth of 
distinct national ideas. Jewish forms and Jewish thoughts were entirely different 
from every other. In modern times, we find that Spain is quite distinct from Italy, 
Germany resembles neither, Ireland and Scotland are unlike, and England, 
France. Russia, each has a national purpose, life and character of its own. 

The idea of France has been mentioned. To make herself the imperial mistress 
of Europe, and also the head of the Roman Catholic Church controlling the world, 
is her leading thought. Germany tends towards union and a national idea. 
England at present is controlled by no great purpose. To escape revolution, to 
save her throne, her aristocracy, and her wealth is her highest ambition 



Of all the nations of Europe, Russia now is working under the power of the 
grandest national idea. She is endeavorinj? to lift seventy millions of people to 
the hi)^h level of Christian civilization. !She is preparing to force the Turk out of 
Euro|)e and restore the Greek Church over all its ancient territory. Her govern- 
ment is based distinctly upon the religious idea. The Czar is the Patriarch and 
High Priest of his people. Her territorial idea is certainly the grandest of modern 
times, or not to be matched except by one which I think will yet be recognized as 
our own. Russia intends to stretch herself from the Atlantic, across Northern 
Europe and Asia to the Pacific, with Constantinople as one of tlie great centres of 
her national lite. Russia is expanding to match the grandeurof her national idea. 

These examples show that a national idea is the basis of national life, and that 
idea must be a noble one if it exalts a nation. 

1 next propose to show that each great movement of the church has been through 
the power of oue central idea. The Apostolic Church wrought under the inspira- 
tion of a noble purpose, and that purpose was born of the iSaviour's parting com- 
mand : '• Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel unto every creature. 
Bear the good news from Heaven abroad till every man of earth has heard the 
tidings of deliverance." The grand conception of a world restoied to more than 
its Eden glory — of all the millions of a ruined race made pure and hajjpy and 
deathless again — the holy enthusiasm for such a leader as the Son of God — these 
were sufficient to rouse every faculty of the man and sustain all in intense and 
continuous action. 

This spirit-energy was a resistless power. Well might Paul say they wielded 
forces which through God were mighty. Without any of the means with which 
the church is operating now — with no books, or printing press, or steam, or rail- 
road, or telegraph — with no societies or other orgnnizations to lean en — travelling 
mostly on foot, and supporting themselves — these early Christians, confronted by 
Judaism and heathenism, in a single generation planted the Gospel in the whole 
Roman world. Such is spirit-power, working under the influence of a noble idea, 
and enthusiasm for such a leader as Christ. It filjs the measure of the soul, and 
stirs it to its profoundest depths. 

The Crusades present another impressive example of the power of a noble 
thought, even wheu it has no important practical result. The originators of the 
Crusades appealed directly to the mightiest forces that have ever moved the human 
soul, zeal for a religion and enthusiasm for a religious leader. Those were ages 
of faith, though qhcn blind and misdirected, and beneath the desire for military 
adventure and glory there was an intense desire to extend the power of the church, 
to reconquer that part of Christendom which the iMoslems had won, aud rescue 
the sepulchre of our Lord from the pollution of the infidel. 

These two thoughts had power to cause the populations of Europe to heave like 
a surging sea, and rolled wave after wave of eager thousands on the shores of 
Palestine Beyond all other forces, the religious sentiment has power to arouse 
and sustain the might of the human soul. 

Lutlier, too, shook Europe with a thought. He hurled a single idea against the 
Papacy, and shattered half its structure. 

To deliver Europe from the elegant heathenism of Rome, to bring back the 
nations from a deceitful and corrupting formalism to the conception and experience 
of a spiritual religion, was an idea inspired from Heavcu, |iud it wrought with a 
Divine power and gave a new religious era to the world. 

1 propose next to inquire whether the American mind is working under the 
influence of any great idea, one of sufficient power to produce here a great and 
noble nation, an enduring national life. 

In order to answer this questioh, we must glance at the past that we may 
understand the present. 

The idea upon which this nation was founded was essentially a religious one. 
There was in it much of the spiritof the Apostolic Church wheu it went forth from 
Jerusalem to reclaim the waste and moral wilderness of heathenism. 

The central idea of American Puritanism was to found here a State after the 
Gospel model— /;>«<, for the honor and glory of Christ, and second, to secure 
Christian freedom for man. 

We can understand the grandeur of that idea. We can see why it sustained 
and cheered, while it gave power and nobleness to that pilgrim band, encamjied 
between the howl of the winter woods and the roar of the winter sea, when the 



>L 



them and their English homes when flmfnV^r^^ miles of ocean rolled between 
and death swept 'their chTeftkanS iSsfaw^^^^ 

thought of founding a State for God InH fLn ^ V ^}\^''^ ^'""^ "'^ ^"^ ^'^""^ 
tribulation of that s^orrowful wtt?;tiTderS°^^ ''''' 

times dim with tears, fixed on the m'arTforthe pr?ze ^' '"'' '^""^^ '°"^- 

produce heroic men and historic nations ^'^'<^"Sth. Thej are the ideas which 

or^rSic:;:;^Si^::£;;^^j,as^rilS^s^s;'°"' r-. '--' 

ideas began to shape our policy and our desKnv Onin^^ ' ^^'^l''}^^'- 'wading 
tended to remove the moral an"^ regions S.si/of.ovrnn.ent'^ ^'T ^'"''^"'•^ 

A second idea was the doctrine of State sovereignty which a^ tanahf r..» * a' 
Je^n^raf^ir^^^'^^^^ "^^'^"^^ ^"^ -ndePedrptibl? JSelJ^STTf 

tripitsroie^rA^^^^^^^^^^ 

Republic. The church was enslaved and the it 7 ^v'^''''' '^''' ^°''''^^' ^'^' ""'• 
oui public affairs. All that then rematned as po s?Wet'r'?h/'' 'f"^^^'-^- ^-'o™ 
porary and deceitful material prospeHu an?trtS. n,™"- "''7i ""'u' ^ ^'"- 
gave itself with a blind and reckless enthSsksm It^^.r^. f /" T'^"" '^^ "=''^°^ 
cry the wail, the prayer of the slS^^^L'd ^ „ doi« Amali^reHtLlf' ZT ''? 
to fetter and silence its pulpits and shut ont r^l!„io V. "'""''^ed tself Jt agreed 
policy, and so provoked^th'^, anger o? Ch?i4 It^lielded?o ^^'^"1' ^'"'^ ^^^''^ 
oppressor, and even bartered its manhood for Jld^ul.t ^V '^^'"^",^ "' ^^^ 

SSe^--j1,^S^-^ - 

ir :^— ^^r-grf ^ftJE s£E^^^ -? r ^^ -^^ - -- 

dimmed with the smTe of battle ut the ll'lU Tf^.'f' ''^'"''^ ''"°'^' ^"^ 
there a.ain, and by the bapt m 'of ou gTe^^^^^^ was gleaming 

more capable of national greatness ^ national agony, He made us once 

suffering. After these sad eTne-i^nPnl w!V ^°,°'^ '^ perfected through 

nationaf idea the gSconcemio™^ at ength to readopt as our 

principles for the ^onor of Goi and t^e e v 1 ion of "the Jh ', ^T' °° ^^"''''''' 
have come through a sea red with blood and ;«U^-?J / ^u'^ humanity. We 
where we dug half a raillffngav°fhed1v natrons ofS^fir ' 1^^'"'^"'^'. 

:TSst^;^SSrm-±^S^^^^^^^ 

honor, and thanks to God, who insnired thpm Vitt, „ ^°*^^^ ^"^ national life and 
the occasion, and who gav'eZn the victory T , p '? n-^' ^""^ 'jT ''"^ ^'1"'^' ^" 
the Apocalypse, whichVas mo? alTy wounded and lhen'v«''H' ^5^' ''^^ '^"^'^ ^^^ 
healed, andhe was more ferocious than before ' '^'^ '"''""^ ^^' 

reS^o^^^H\^^^,;:^i;;nar^S Snl^^a^Jjf ''^L^-'^ -f ^e 
two years in these halls have battled for the ri.rM ^ J^^ "^^^ ^'^'o ^O'" 

was n'ever before arrayed S.Staitt any tkr;rhnr\'" 'T'''''''' ^' 
resistless power of a\oble idea. "-Tl^ Ze'Tp^dTd 'i?.'^ac?irt?S, 111: 



,U™^"!^' "•■ ^"NUKt^:> 




OoNot Sen 



013 785 563 fi 



grandeur of the ruling iliougdt, and tte rfucm^y.. to luc 

''second death," and ihat \s -without hope, and without a resurrection, ine legis- 
lation of theT hirty-Ninth Congress forms a nobler declaration of national inde- 
pendence than that of '7G. That was almost a miracle of courage and statesman- 
ship, for its time, but this last matches the grander proportions of this new-born 
age ;' and under it the nation starts into newness of life, a life derived from the 
Gospel of Christ. 

Let us analyze this now new, and yet our original, national idea, in order to 
judge whether it is capable of producing a great nation. 

First our territorial idea : It embraces this North American continent and the 
adjacent West Indian Archipelago. I think the territorial charter for our nation 
covers this, and to all this, Europe will yet be persuaded to yield her claim, and 
these now foreign populations will gravitate tov.ards our stronger life. 

This magnificent continent, whose very unity of structure shows that it was 
designed for one undivided dominion, presents a theatre unmatched by that of any 
other power of e^rth, and we now propose to i)ut it to right noble uses. The 
action of the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and especially that of the last few days, has 
placed this Republic in a position where it must be acknowledged as the leader of 
nations. This legislation has presented to the world a model of government more 
nearly conformed to the letter and spirit of the Gospel— more worthy, in theory 
at least, to be called a Christian State than any earth has known. 

In the exercise of supreme power as the attribute of a nation, it has declared 
Christ's own doctrine of the brotherhood of tlie r,ace. It enacts a new charter for 
humanity, in which not one right is omitted ; it gives back to all the crown of 
manhood, in which not a single jewel is wanting. 

Men talk of the triumph of radicalism, of a victory for the black man. Let us 
rise far higher, and proclaim a triumph for our whole humanity, a victory won for, 
and in the name of Christ. 

Again, it has been declared by the supreme authority of the nation that violence, 
outrage, and murder shall cease in this land ; that infuriated and reckless men 
shall he' restrained and punished, with no interference by sympathizing n/is-called 
courts of justice; and that the whole armed power of the Government shall be 
used, if need be, to defend the property, the rights, the life of the loyal citizen, 
and not vainly hereafter shall the humblest friend of the Government look for 
protection to the stripes and stars. What a withering up of rebel strength, 
audacity, and hopes ! What a slinking back to their dens of the reptiles that have 
been stinging to death thousands of true-hearted men ! No man can measure the 
increase of strength and stability which by this act the Republic has gained. 

Again, the supreme power has at length solemnly set the proper brand upon the 
crime of' treason, and has thus shown itself able and worthy to govern. Never 
before on earth have such efforts been made as we have seen, to make crime respect- 
able and transform traitors into heroes. Public virtue was growing faint ; the 
underpirders of society were loosened. But this enactment of Congress has 
arrested this downward tendency, new health has been infused into the public 
heart the conscience has been quickened, and the whole moral tone of the nation will 
be firmer and nobler through this most righteous decision. Treason and rebellion 
must wear the brand. 

Add to these, the new phase of the missionary spirit which moves so deeply the 
Christian heart - the desire to evangelize and educate the millions so lately eman- 
cipated—and they form together a grand national purpose, vast enough, noble 
enough, to become the central thought of a new and higher civilization, and with 
power enough to fill the whole continent with the wonders of its working. 

It will have the blessings of all those millions whose long, agonizing prayer for 
deliverance, God has now heard and answered. It will be sustained by the prayers 
and moral influence of the churches of the land. It will give peace and order, a 
new creation even, to the now chaotic South. It will restore public confidence, 
and stimulate every branch of our industry. It will deepen and strengthen the 
moral and religious sentiment of the country. It embodies the principles of Christ 
in our political institutions. It will rear on this North American continent one 
undivided Christian State, which, planted between the seas, will send its trans- 
forming life to Europe and Africa on the one side, and to Asia on the other, till it 
shall prove perhaps the morning star of Christian empire, to herald the nobler 
kingdom of Heaven. 




■'Ms 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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